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STONES: FAQs
What are kidney or bladder stones?
Kidney stones are made of salts and minerals in the urine that stick together to form small “pebbles.” They can be as small as grains of sand or as large as golf balls. They may stay in your kidneys or travel out of your body through the urinary tract. The urinary tract is the system that makes urine and carries it out of your body. It is made up of the kidneys, the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder (the ureters), the bladder, and the tube that leads from the bladder out of the body (the urethra).
When a stone travels through a ureter, it may cause no pain. Or it may cause great pain and other symptoms.
What causes kidney stones?
Kidney stones form when a change occurs in the normal balance of water, salts, minerals, and other things found in urine. The most common cause of kidney stones is not drinking enough water. Try to drink enough water to keep your urine clear (about 8 to 10 glasses of water a day). Some people are more likely to get kidney stones because of a medical condition, such as enlarged prostate or if they have a family history.
Can kidney stones be prevented?
It can be especially helpful to drink more water. (The National Institutes of Health recommend drinking up to 12 full glasses of water a day, if you’ve already had a kidney stone.) Water helps to flush away the substances that form stones in the kidneys.
Depending on the cause of the kidney stones and an individual’s medical history, dietary changes or medications are sometimes recommended to decrease the likelihood of developing further kidney stones. It is particularly helpful, if one has passed a stone, to have it analyzed in a laboratory to determine the precise type of stone so specific prevention measures can be considered.